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Testimony in NOAA case begins

A union representing employees at MacDill Air Force Base claims they were unknowingly put in danger during last year's hurricane season.

By PAUL DE LA GARZA
Published February 1, 2006

TAMPA - With so many lives and so much property at stake, the government is looking for better ways to accurately forecast hurricanes.

Its plans for doing that have sparked a federal labor dispute that pits hurricane chasers against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On Tuesday, an administrative law judge began to hear testimony on a complaint filed in July by the union that represents employees with NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center at MacDill Air Force Base.

The union - the National Weather Service Employees Organization - claims NOAA violated labor law by excluding it from discussions of a test program that supposedly put staff members in harm's way.

The union charges that employees - including meteorologists, electronics engineers and equipment technicians - were charged with flying into the inner core of hurricanes using unsafe aircraft.

NOAA uses propeller-driven P-3 Orions and Gulfstream jets to help track hurricanes. The P-3 flies directly into the storm at low altitudes, but the Gulfstream flies overhead or ahead of the storm at higher altitudes.

The union charges that the Gulfstream does not have proper radar to fly directly into storms.

In the summer, the union claimed Gulfstream crews flew directly into Hurricane Emily and Tropical Storm Franklin. At the time, NOAA said the aircraft flew "above Tropical Storm Emily and Franklin."

It was unclear from the testimony Tuesday whether the Gulfstream penetrated the inner core of the storms.

After the hearing, union attorney Richard Hirn said it appeared that the jet had diverted from its original flight plan during Emily to avoid thunderstorms and that it was unclear what had happened in two other test flights.

NOAA attorney Michelle Englar argued that the agency did not violate labor law and that the safety of air crews was paramount.

Barry Damiano, a meteorologist at MacDill who participated in a risk management study of the Gulfstream, testified that NOAA apparently ignored warnings that the aircraft was not safe to fly into the inner core of a hurricane.

Michael Black, a meteorologist with NOAA's Hurricane Research Division in Miami, testified that the inner core of a hurricane typically is the most dangerous, with the highest concentration of thunderstorms and turbulence.

Outside the courtroom, union president Dan Sobien charged that the government was retaliating against two union officials at MacDill, Richard McNamara and Dan Lino, because of their involvement with the case.

NOAA spokesman Jordan St. John could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Englar said she was not authorized to comment.

Paul de la Garza can be reached at 813 226-3432 or delagarza@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 01:02:08]